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Regina is such a strong character that I initially thought she was going to have more trouble fitting in at the University. But thankfully she has some professors helping keep her out of the line of those looking for her. But besides seeing how Regina has grown and how she is better prepared for this fight was seeing how the Federation is run. Here Regina is told all of these stories and everyone thinks that it would be better than stuck in the swamp. But the inside is not any better than where Regina came from.

I love how this series is progressing. I really cheered for Regina and hoped that she rescued Colleen even though everything was stacked against her. I am definitely excited to start reading Defiance.

Think Hunger Games. Think in the future (way future) and battle for survival. The rich survive while the poor fight for their lives to be… well, the last one standing.

Let me set the scene…

The inner circle is surrounded by a giant wall. Have you ever watched the Avatar cartoon? The “big city” is surrounded by this giant wall to keep the outside world out, separate from the inside world. That’s what we have here.

On the inside is the “worthy”. BUT, they are all women. No men. The world is run by women. “Grand Old Dames” to be exact. Hundreds of years old Grand Old Dames because technology.

On the outside is “swamp” with the residents being called “swamp rats”. Again, no men. All women. (Men no longer exist, sorry guys!)

Resilience essentially follows Regina going through a severe thunderstorm that floods the entire swamp, losing her family and everyone else they knew.

While trying to survive the swamp and all that comes with it, the flooding, and losing everything (family, home and belongings) she now must remain out of the reach of the Antiquities from the “inner city” who want her unique DNA for breeding.

I thoroughly enjoyed following Regina’s adventures and escapes as well as her creativity. I look forward to reading the next books in the series to see what happens to her along the way!

I hope readers will enjoy taking the journey with Regina Shen as much as I have. She is an entirely different character than Annabelle from the Rebel series. Aside from living three hundred years apart, I can’t help wondering how the two would react to each other. Annabelle is kick-ass. Regina Shen is as book-smart, in a world that bans books, as she is swamp and life-smart at such a young age. She is fifteen in the first book and seventeen in books two and three. Maybe one of these days they will meet.

Regina Shen has grown up on the outside, at the bottom of the official caste system. Yet, her tough upbringing has given her strength to endure what she must to survive, help family, and achieve her goals. Giving up isn’t an option for her. She’s resilient, vigilant, and defiant in protection of what matters to her: family and friends.

Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

In a sense, everything writers write reflect experiences and research in some mix. Research fills in details of place and circumstance, but I believe the emotional aspects come from the heart. Having moved as much as I have, I’ve had to start over from the bottom rung of each new society I moved into. Perhaps the resilience, vigilance, and defiance I find in Regina are in some part derived from these experiences.

My writing style varies from story to story. Of my published stories, Rebels Divided was the first written. I did extensive notes on world building, some sixty thousand words. I also heavily outlined because I had two storylines I needed to have come together and I wanted to make sure they worked before I wrote. Rebels Divided is now the third book in the Rebel series. I next wrote The Rebel Within, or should I say Annabelle dictated it to me, often in the middle of the night. She had a story to tell and I was the vehicle. It helped that I’d already fleshed out the world. I did virtually no outline, but from the beginning I knew how her story started, what her major hurdles would be and how it would end. The Regina Shen series began pretty much like The Rebel Within, driven by a strong character, a beginning, hurdles, and an end. The first story in the new series was the novelette (Regina Shen: Into the Storm). Like Annabelle, Regina wouldn’t leave me alone until I continued her story. Unlike the Rebel series, each book of which was written as a standalone novel, the Regina Shen novels were written from the beginning as a series. What I found after writing the first book and launching into the second, was that the more of the second I wrote, the more I had to go back and change the first. Thus, I waited until I’d completed all three books in the Regina Shen series before seeking publication.

While I hope we can avoid the calamity of rising seas and economic collapse, there are those who would suppress knowledge of the past and knowledge they don’t approve of to suit their aims. We may not have an official caste system, but at times in our history moving up from our birth station has been difficult for many. The places in the story match names on our maps, but after four hundred years have changed in ways to be unrecognizable. In addition, I’ve taken a few liberties for the sake of creating an interesting story. Thus, I believe the conflicts, emotions, and struggles are real, yet this is a futuristic, some might say fantasy type world.

This is Book 4 in the Regina Shen series by author Lance Erlick. I have read the first three and I have liked all of them. For those who have not read the earlier books in the series I will not tell of the book itself. But rather of the great story that the author has given us in this series. This is the continuation of Regina Shen looking for her sister. Anyone who loves science fiction will like this series. The story and the writing is wonderful. I give this book a 5/5. I really recommend this series.

The Second book is just as good as the first and keeps you in the edge of your seat the whole time. I am really enjoying this series a lot and highly recommend it to anyone who loved YA Dystopian like I do. You really get more into the characters and the world Regina Shen lives in. Lance Erlick is a fantastic writer and storyteller.

Most of the novel’s action revolves around Regina’s attempts to weather out the hurricane, with occasional separation from her family members, not to mention simultaneous pursuit by the Department of Antiquities, the third-person sections with Demarco being decent breaks from the first-person narration. This reviewer further liked how despite the book’s dealing with the potential adverse effects of climate change, it doesn’t become preachy on the issue, and although the book would receive three sequels, the first ends without any major cliffhangers or last-minute revelations, ultimately accounting for a satisfying read.

As I have read all of these books in this series, I became invested in Regina and her quest to find her sister. The battle between Volpe and Demarco kept the story intriguing and very entertaining. I didn’t know what either lady would do next to try and gain the upper hand. Thus in turn it kept me guessing as to who to trust. Through this journey, Regina has really turned out to be a strong leader but in her book smart, knowledge of the world, and strength. She really is the key to survival of womankind and mankind.

Because I was so invested in the characters and the storyline, it was easy to read this book. I sat down to start reading and just kept reading until I was almost to the halfway point of the book before I put it down. Yet when I picked it up again I was right back into the story until the end. I have enjoyed this series. It is refreshing.

Regina Shen is an outcast in her futuristic society. She lives in a time where everything we know is gone. She is once again caught between the people who run the government. This time it is the Department of Antiques and the political turmoil over who will become the next World Premier. She is also still trying to find enough treasures to sell in order to buy her sister’s freedom. This journey is not an easy one and it will push Regina to her limits. Will she be able to endure such trials?

This book in the series is the best of the entire series. Regina has really grown as the character who has become a very strong female protagonist. This book has so many twists and turns that it will keep the reader at the edge of their chairs. The author knows how to draw the audience into this world. This book was a wonderful way to end this series. This book I give five out of five stars.

This series is one I would recommend to those who love the “rebuilding of a society after this one has collapse” genre. Lance Erlick is a wonderful writer. The reader can tell his joy of writing just by reading this series. It is amazing to see how Regina has grown throughout these books. This character will be missed.

Join Regina Shen as the exiting, great, daring, and dangerous adventure continues in book three of the Regina Shen Series, Defiance. Regina is still on the run and continues to elude capture from the patrol-women who want her for her DNA in hopes to reverse a worldwide fertility catastrophe, as they think Regina’s genes are the key to saving the world. Having previously taken and tested Regina’s sister, Colleen, but found her DNA lacking, the patrol-women now want Regina more than ever. But Regina perseveres and comes up with a plan to barter for her own freedom and that of Colleen as well. But this plan leads Regina on a dangerous and thrilling journey not only across the Alaskan wilderness, but a personal journey to also discover herself, as Mo-Mere previously instructed and suggested. I would recommend this novel to teens that enjoy science fiction and dystopian fiction.